Devotional

Scripture: (Psa 137:1-3 NKJV)  By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept When we remembered Zion. {2} We hung our harps Upon the willows in the midst of it. {3} For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, And those who plundered us requested mirth, Saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"

 

Observation: The Israeli exiles now long for home while living in Babylon, and their pain is made more difficult to bear because those who have taken them prisoners taunt them with their condition as foreigners and make fun of them.

 

Application: I spent three fantastic weeks in my homeland of Colombia.  I have lived in the US 33 years, have been adopted by this country and the people here, I’m an American citizen, and love the Us as if I had been born here.  But my heart is also in Colombia where I spent the first 18 years of my life, where I still have many relatives and friends, where I received the first part of my education, and where I have some of my strongest memories – the death of my father when I was 15, my sister’s wedding, my group of friends, and many more.

 

I have been back home only four times in the last 33 years, one of them for my mother’s death.  The other three visits were vacations, to see the family, and to get reacquainted with my home and my people.  I don’t know if all foreigners experience this, but I know that every time I come back from Colombia I go through a couple of weeks of deep sadness and a longing for home.  I desperately want to be back with those I love, eat their food, enjoy their music, travel their roads, watch their sunsets, share their landscapes, feel their warmth, and even their cold.

 

I wonder at times if Jesus ever had similar thoughts and feelings.  He left heaven and was away from home for 33 years.  He left a place where He was surrounded by beings that loved Him, indeed worshiped Him, where there was no violence, anger, or hatred, where he had daily, constant, face-to-face communion with His Father, with the Holy Spirit, and with all the angels.  And while here on earth, even though He had a loving mother and step-father, and several friends, He also encountered the hostility of His step-brothers, the anger of the people, the hatred of the authorities.  I wonder how much He longed to be home!

 

I couldn’t put mi fingers on it today, but remember reading of a vision Ellen White had where she was transported to heaven and then, having come out of the vision, witnessing the darkness and gloom of earth in comparison to what she had experienced in heaven she felt so sad.  I’m glad we won’t experienced that after we leave heaven to come back to earth because it will be a new earth and because God Himself, and Jesus will be with us.  In the mean time, as much as I long for my Colombian home, I also long for heaven, my eternal home.

 

A Prayer You May Say: Father, may Jesus return soon so we can go home to be with You and with our loved ones who’ve passed away so we can enjoy eternity together and never be apart from each other again.